Boxmaster: Cutting the Shard

In Jacqueline Lichtenberg's "Boxmaster" story, an apprentice Boxmaster must venture into a planetary wasteland, far from any help from civilization, to find and carve out the psychic crystals that he or she works with. They are often in mountainous places where the quester must do difficult climbing. I will never do rock climbing though it seems like a fascinating sport. I bought a picture book about "how to learn rock climbing in a weekend," and that was all I needed for details of harness, ropes, and tools. The shard is depicted as having almost a  winglike appearance, as if it were an occult vision or an angel. Lichtenberg worked in some of her Jewish mystical background if the reader can pick it up.

Black ink on illustration board, 8 1/2" x 10 1/2", fall 1994.

Note: The Photoshop annoyance continues. I re-installed it but it still wouldn't work. Due to this "licensing" incompatibility, Photoshop is Kaput on my main system. Fortunately I have two back up systems, my MacBook Pro laptop and the glamorous Miss Cintiq. So I can continue to blogify until I've found, or paid for, a solution to the problem. I tell you it sure is easier to type in my blog blather on a keyboard rather than tap it out on the Cintiq screen. She's an Artiste, she isn't made for mere typing.